I looked down at the credit card. It wasn’t my name. I looked back up at him.
“It’s untraceable.”
Untraceable. To everyone? I wondered if that meant including him. I had an idea running through my head. Isabella was insane. I knew that. We weren’t safe here. But not because of Isabella. Because of my dad.
Miller hadn’t followed my father’s rules. Because I hadn’t let him. I climbed into his bed almost every night. I made him feel obligated to hug me and hold me, even though my heart was confused. I was going to get him killed.
I needed to get us out of here. I needed to fix this. “Thanks,” I said and gripped the credit card a little tighter. I was pretty sure I’d just found our out.
Chapter 20
2 Months Later - Monday
My hands were shaking as I walked into the kitchen. Miller was cooking us dinner tonight. He’d actually gotten really good at it over the last few months.
“Miller?”
He turned toward me, the smile on his face faltering. “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t be mad.”
He left his post at the stove. “What’s going on? Did Little Dicky call?”
I wanted to laugh. We’d started referring to my dad as Little Dicky. The fact that lots of Richard’s went by the nickname Dick was strange enough on its own. But then we’d started laughing one night agreeing to call him Dick from now on. And it somehow tumbled into Little Dicky. It made thinking about my father a lot easier when I referred to him that way. And for some reason we both found it hilarious. We’d needed more lighthearted moments these past couple months when we weren’t allowed to step foot outside. “No. I mean, yes, he did. But it’s not about that.”
I handed him the envelope. “I did something. You’re probably not going to like it. But just…give me a chance to explain, okay?” He’d been incredibly patient with me. I went from snuggling him in the ocean one minute to barely talking to him the next. I loved him. And I hated myself. I was just so freaking confused. All I knew was that we couldn’t stay here. Neither of us. “Open it.”
He pulled out the passport with a fake name. A debit card linked to a bank account with the same name on it. And a set of keys.
“What is this?”
“Remember that credit card my dad got me a few months ago? I’ve been working with someone online to pull money into a secure account. For you. For your fresh start.”
He lowered his eyebrows.
“You told me you preferred lakes over oceans.” I pointed to the keys. “There’s a cute little place right by a lake that you own now. It’s…it’s perfectly you. You’ll be happy there. And no one will find you…”
“Are you crazy? Brooklyn, we can’t leave.”
I pressed my lips together. There wasn’t a we in this. “You said my dad was coming down this weekend. That gives you a whole week to get a head start.”
“You didn’t say we.”
The way he was staring at me made my heart break all over again. I was a fragment of the person I used to be. I was confused. And broken. And in pain. Whenever my dad came by, he brought more pictures of Matt and my friends being happy without me. He claimed to have texted Matt a few more times, telling him they needed to talk. He said he was willing to tell Matt the truth if that would make me happy. But apparently Matt had never texted him back.
My dad also told me that Isabella was still safely locked up in a psych ward. Even though he’d tried to scare me half to death by saying she might escape. He was just trying to scare me. He was just trying to keep me locked up here forever. Literally now. I hadn’t gotten to leave the beach house in months. I was trapped here. And I couldn’t breathe anymore. It was like my father was trying to break me. Break my spirit. Break any hope I had of a normal life one day. He just wanted me to obey him.
So I’d decided that I didn’t believe a word that came out of my father’s mouth. Maybe I was in denial. But I was calling my father’s bluff. If he said it was okay for Matt to know…I’d tell him myself. In person. Maybe I was being naïve. I’d seen the pictures. But…what if they were old? What if nothing was as it seemed? I couldn’t keep going like this. I had to get to the bottom of it all before my heart exploded. I needed answers. If I was going to move forward, I just needed to know.
Isabella wasn’t a threat as long as she was locked up. And Matt was good at keeping secrets. If he still wanted me…if he still loved me…I’d just stay camped out in his house instead of here. The Caldwells wouldn’t care. His mother was one of the sweetest people I’d ever met. I knew they’d welcome me back with open arms.
“This isn’t a good idea,” Miller said. “We’ve talked about this.”
“And you said I needed a better plan. This plan is flawless. You’ll be safe. You’ll be free.”
He looked down at the keys in his hand. “Brooklyn, Matt thinks you’re dead. It’s been nine months. Are you sure you’ve thought of all the possibilities here?”
“You said it yourself. This isn’t about what Matt didn’t do this time. He doesn’t know I’m alive. If he knew…he would have come. He wouldn’t have kissed anyone else. I believe that. I have to.”
“What if your father has been telling the truth?”
I shook my head. “He’s not.”
“But what if he is?”
I swallowed hard. “Then I’ll deal with that when the time comes. I have to go see Matt. I feel like I’m slowly dying here without him.”
Miller looked away from me, out toward the beach.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” I said and grabbed his hand. “You being here with me has been the only thing keeping me going.” He had to know that. He’d kept me alive over the past several months. I loved him. I loved him so much that going in opposite directions physically pained me. But how could I move forward with Miller if I didn’t know whether or not Matt had moved on?
“So you want me to just…disappear?”
“Isn’t that the only way for you to get away from my dad?”
“Yeah. But it takes me away from you too.” He stared at me the same way he always did. Like I was his whole world.
But he wasn’t mine. And I couldn’t do this to him anymore. He’d become my best friend. The person I literally leaned on when things were hard. I loved him. Fiercely. I was pretty sure I was in love with him. But I’d been faithful to Matt. I needed to go back to him. I needed to speak with him. We were still engaged. It didn’t matter that my ring was missing. I was Matt’s. And he was mine. Even though I wasn’t even sure he had my whole heart anymore.
“Is this really what you want?” Miller asked.
“Yes.” No. I don’t know.
He closed his fist around the keys. It looked like he was going to walk away. Which was what I wanted. But instead he shook his head. “Those first few months, I knew you thought about him when I held you. I’m not an idiot, Brooklyn. I knew that. And I hear you. I know you want me to walk out that door. But is that your head or your heart talking? I know you’re trying to make good on promises you made to Matt. But I don’t know how you can stand here and say that you still think about him when I hold you now. Not after everything we’ve been through the past few months. You have feelings for me. I don’t know how you can want me to walk out that door and never see me again. I don’t believe it.”